Disillusion with the use of social media

Too much effort, too few returns – that’s the conclusion which many companies draw when evaluating their activities in social media. Often, it seems as if enterprises are lacking a sound integration of social media into a sustainable online strategy.

Just about 13% of enterprises are fully satisfied with the results of their social media activities, says a recent survey by news aktuell and Faktenkontor. Two main reasons for their discontent: the missing interaction with their target groups and an unbalanced cost-income ratio.

To tackle both issues, companies frequently employ a dedicated online strategy which integrates social media with their further online activities. Thus, enterprises can also gain from carrying their existing offline activities into the online world. In the end, the goal is to secure fruitful interaction between the company and its customers via contemporary online channels while at the same time ensuring an efficient use of budgets spent.

The analysis of the responses of over 1.000 spokespersons, PR agencies and journalists who took part in the survey also emphasizes how important it is that the offered content is of high quality and that its presentation matches the needs of the audience. Visual media such as images and video clips are still quite important in the web. This is especially true when combined with press releases. News releases are generally considered as one of the most promising instruments in online marketing: Nine out of ten companies state that releases are relevant not only for the media but also for further important target groups such as customers. Still, only one third of questioned enterprises are optimising their releases for Google.